Chapter 11—The Centurion’s Son
After laboring two days with the Samaritans, Jesus left them to
continue his journey to Galilee. He made no tarry at Nazareth, where
he had spent his youth and early manhood. His reception in the syna-
gogue there, when he announced himself as the Anointed One, was so
unfavorable that he decided to seek more fruitful fields, to preach to
ears that would listen, and to hearts that would receive his message.
He declared to his disciples that a prophet hath no honor in his own
country. This saying sets forth that natural reluctance which many
people have to acknowledge any wonderfully admirable development
in one who has unostentatiously lived in their midst, and whom they
have intimately known from childhood. At the same time, these same
persons might become wildly excited over the pretensions of a stranger
and an adventurer.
The miracle that Jesus had performed in Cana prepared the way
for his cordial reception. The people who had returned from the
passover had brought back the report of his marvelous cleansing of
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the desecrated temple, followed by his miracles of healing the sick
and restoring sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf. The judgment
passed upon his acts by the dignitaries of the temple, opened his way
at Galilee; for many of the people lamented the abuse of the temple
and the lofty arrogance of the priests, and hoped that this man, who
had the power to these rulers to flight, might indeed be the looked-for
Deliverer.
The news that Jesus had returned from Judea to Cana soon spread
throughout Galilee and the region round about. It reached the ears of
a nobleman in Capernaum, who was a Jew of some honor. He was
much interested in what he had heard of the power of Jesus to heal the
sick, for he had a son suffering with disease. The father had consulted
the most learned physicians among the Jews, and they had pronounced
the case incurable, and told him that his son must soon die.
But when he heard that Jesus was in Galilee his heart was encour-
aged; for he believed that one who could miraculously change water
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